Teen Titans: Clarity
by JesseGonzales
Summary: As a battle with Mumbo Jumbo leaves the titans confused as to how he escaped from being flash-frozen in an underground lair in Paris, an old friend returns to the team. However, a captured Mumbo is the least of their worries as a darker force sets its eyes upon the young heroes.


Clarity

"Bahahahaha! And now for my final trick, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to make all of your belongings disappear!" Mumbo Jumbo laughed hysterically as he began to wave his wand in the air. "Alakazam!" Just then a black hole appeared and began sucking in valuables of all kinds, but as people tried to flee the hole just pulled them in harder. Mumbo was laughing so hard that he hadn't noticed the dark energy that took hold of his wand.

"Wha-?" He exclaimed as the wand was lifted from him. "What kind of magic is this?"

"_Real_ magic," Raven hissed from behind along with the other Titans.

"Well look who it is! My old friends!"

"Enough games, Mumbo!" Robin shouted. "Who unfroze you?"

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to."

"Enough! Titans, go!"

Mumbo quickly grabbed his wand from its drift as he tried escaping into the black hole, but Starfire was even quicker as she intercepted him.

"Why thank you, my dear," he gushed. "Here's a flower to show my gratitude!"

"Ugh!" She grunted as a giant, red boxing glove shot out from the flower and punched her right in the face, causing her to drop Mumbo and fall to the ground.

"You're mine now, blue man!" Cyborg shouted as he fired at the magician with his sonic cannon.

"Not today!" Mumbo quipped. "Hocus pocus!" He shouted just as the beam was inches away. It soon changed direction and instead blasted Robin right in the chest.

"Whoops. Uh, my bad." Cyborg said aloud.

"You really should learn to play nicely," Mumbo scolded Cyborg as he appeared from behind him.

"What the?" Mumbo then blasted Cyborg away with a beam of his own from his wand. He then proceeded to laugh even more hysterically.

"Azarath, meterion, zinthos!" Raven exclaimed as she sent two mailboxes hurtling towards Mumbo.

"Abracadabra!" He shouted turning the mailboxes into flocks of pigeons. "You see how easy that was?" He asked rhetorically as he shot another beam at her, however, she was quick to deflect its path.

"Ow!" Beast Boy exclaimed as the beam shocked his charging rhinoceros. "Watch where you're throwing that next time!" He shouted at Raven as he rubbed his smoking behind.

"Hahahahaha!" Mumbo laughed, giving Starfire just enough time to swoop in and grab his wand. "Hey!"

"Enough of your sorcery!" She shouted as she snapped the wand into two pieces.

"No!" Mumbo cried as everything that had been involved with his magic began to revert back to normal.

"Good work, Star." Robin said as he apprehended the no-longer-blue Mumbo. "I'll see to it that you stay locked away this time." Robin sneered.

"This is impossible." Cyborg sounded perplexed as they all walked into the living room of Titans Tower. "I don't see how he could've escaped."

"Probably the same way he's managed to escape from jail in the past." Raven noted.

"So why didn't he free anyone else?"

"We don't know that he didn't," Robin added.

"Can we talk about something important?" Beast Boy interrupted. "Like how Raven here practically zapped me with Mumbo's magic beam of, uh, magic!" He glared at her.

"Uh, sorry?" She answered.

"Let us no longer dwell on the badness of Mumbo or how he managed to escape. We have defeated him, and thus ended his freedom." Starfire chimed in as she twirled around and to the couch. "I suggest we all convene to the most comfy couch and indulge in the movie night."

Silence.

"I'm going to bed." Raven said unenthusiastically as she turned and walked away.

Cyborg then outstretched his arms and gave a yawn, "I'm with Rae on this one. I'm too tired for a movie, maybe some other time." He concluded as he too walked to his room.

"Sorry Star, but I need to figure out how Mumbo escaped and who else made it out." Robin said as he turned and left the room with only her and Beast Boy.

She looked down to see that he transformed into a small green puppy with wide eyes and a wagging tail. He let his tongue hang out as he barked and chased his own tail.

"Um, I fear I too can no longer participate in the movie night as I have forgotten to…brush Silkie's gurbulas." She said as she flew out of the living room leaving a now whimpering green puppy.

"I guess it's just you and me tonight, beautiful." He said as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a tofu sub.

Just as he was about to bite into it the nearest censor reported that someone was at the door of the Tower. Beast Boy glanced at the clock to see that it was now half-passed 11 p.m.

"That better not be you, Mumbo!" He shouted as he gave the code to open the door.

As soon as it opened he could see that it was not Mumbo. He dropped the sub to the floor as his mouth fell open as well and his eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

"Terra?"

"Hi," the girl muttered shyly.

"Terra!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he jumped into her arms, morphing into the same puppy and giving off whimpers of joy.

"I really missed you too, Beast Boy," she giggled as she rubbed his back and petted his head.

"So how did you remember everything?" He asked her as they sat at the edge of the island and looked over the bay.

"I don't really know, but something about you seemed so familiar, and every time you called me by that name-"

"Terra,"

"Yeah. Every time you called me that it just made me start to think, and that's when I had the flashbacks. I don't remember them all, but I do know that I did very bad things, and I'm really sorry." She put her head on her arms as she pulled her knees to her chest.

"Terra, you don't need to be sorry anymore," he said as he put his hands on her.

She looked at his hand as if she were remembering him more and more, and remembering how they felt about one another.

"But I do," she looked away once more. "I turned my back on you, on everyone, the only friends I ever had, and now I have no one." She began to cry.

"Terra," he moved closer to her, but she was quicker as she then embraced him still sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, Beast Boy. I didn't mean to do it! I didn't mean any of it! I wish I could go back in time and fix everything, but I can't!" She cried.

He then lifted her head by the chin and stared into her eyes, "It's OK, Terra. It's OK."

"How can you say that? Everyone must resent me."

"No," he said, "they're all proud of you. They knew you what you were going through, and when you were able to overcome everything and make your own decisions then that's when they forgave you."

"I wish it never happened." She said as she began to calm down from her crying fit. "I wish I never met or listened to anything Ravager said, that snake."

"Who?"

"Who what?"

"You said Ravager…who's that?"

"No I didn't, I said Slade."

"But I heard-"

"I said that I wished I had never met or listened to _Slade_."

He thought for a moment. "Well the point is that you're back now, and that's all that matters to me." He smiled as the two embraced each other once more.

"Friends!" Starfire greeted Raven and Robin from the kitchen area as they walked into the living room. "I have prepared a traditional Tamaranean breakfast feast in our victory against the wicked Mumbo!"

"Why can't we ever just have coffee?" Raven asked glumly.

"Thanks, Star, but I-" Robin started, but was interrupted as she shoved a spoonful of, what looked like, banana pudding into his mouth. At first he appeared to react out of disgust, but he soon calmed down only to realize that the strange substance was not as bad as he thought. "Wow, Starfire, it tastes pretty good!"

"Will you try some?" She gleamed as she hovered over to Raven.

She examined to yellow goop for a quick second, but gave in. "Why not?" She agreed as she shoveled in some into her mouth.

She thought as she let it sit in her mouth, then her expression changed from the blank stare she usually has to a grin.

"That's actually pretty good."

"Mm-mm-mm! What smells delicious?" Cyborg happily asked as he walked into the room taking in the aroma from Starfire's food.

"Have some," she gave him a bowl full of the food.

"Not too bad!" He smiled as he began to devour what was left in the bowl.

"I'm so very glad that you all are enjoying it! I'm not accustomed to such happiness from you all while eating meals from my home planet." She smiled, then looked around. "Has anyone seen Beast Boy?"

"Nope," Robin answered with a stuffed face.

"Not since last night," Raven agreed as she belched and continued to eat.

"He's probably still asleep." Cyborg said.

"Then I shall go wake him so that he may-" She stopped in her tracks as she turned around and saw Beast Boy standing in the doorway with Terra at his side.

The rest of the Titans turned at Starfire's sudden gasp and the breaking of the bowl which held the rest of her pudding-esque food. They, too, seemed just as shocked.

"Hey guys," Beast Boy greeted them nonchalantly. "I'm guessing you all remember-"

"TERRA!" They all screamed in unison and rushed their former teammate pushing Beast Boy to the side.

"My dear friend! I thought I would never ever see you again!" Starfire squeezed the girl with tears in her eyes.

"Nice to see you again too, Starfire." She said through huffs of breath.

"It's been a really long time, Terra. I'm glad to see you're OK." Robin added with a hand-to-her-shoulder gesture.

"But how?" Cyborg asked.

"I was telling Beast Boy that I don't really remember. It's like everything after the fight was just deleted, somehow."

"The intensity must've caused you to blackout." Raven noted.

Terra turned to Raven with caution and shame, as she knew that her actions against the titans registered more with her. "Raven, I'm-"

"Don't," she held out her hand for Terra to stop. "You did what you did, and nobody can change that," Terra lowered her head in shame, "but that doesn't mean we can't try to work through things." Raven grinned.

Terra's face lit up with relief as tears swelled in her eyes. "I can't believe how kind you all are being." She admitted. "I know I've done bad things, but I'm here to try to fix as much as possible."

Just then the alarm for trouble went off.

"Perfect timing," Beast Boy smiled.

The city was in utter disarray. People were running around screaming in every direction. Smoke and fire filled the once blue afternoon sky. It was clear what the problem was; off in the distance was a band of moving machines. It was a massive army. There was no leader, but the machines and robots were very close makes to the ones Slade himself would use.

"I've been waiting for this," Robin sneered as he saw the robots. "It's Slade."

"Are you sure? I'm not getting a read on his signature." Cyborg noted.

"It has to be. The robots, the designs, the tactics: it screams his work."

"Robin, maybe we should call-" Raven started, but was interrupted as Robin raced into the heart of the army.

"Titans! Go!" He shouted.

They all glanced worriedly at one another, but soon followed Robin into battle.

"Aren't you coming?" Beast Boy turned as he noticed Terra wasn't following them.

"My powers, I can't," she hesitated.

"It's OK, you'll be fine."

"Beast Boy, I-"

"Trust me," he said as he reached out for her hand.

She stared at it for a moment, trying to decide if it was poisonous or not, then she took his hand and the two followed the other titans into battle.

The whole scene was an absolute blur. Green starbolts flying there. Dark energy emerging from here, and everything else that the titans had in their arsenal was being thrown at the robots. Then, in an almost sudden turn of events, the robots just seemed to stop attacking.

"Keep fighting! We've got them now!" Robin demanded.

"Robin," Starfire called to him.

"Don't give up!" He growled.

"Uh, dude?" Beast Boy uttered with both fear & confusion in his voice.

Robin turned to see that nothing was happening; there was no more fighting, no more screaming…nothing. Instead all of the others were turned around and looking at a dark and slender figure who was walking towards them. The figure was definitely a woman as the curvy silhouette became more clear with each graceful step she took. As she grew nearer, Terra began to scream out in pain and hold her head as she fell to her knees.

"Terra!" Beast Boy and Starfire rushed to her aid.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Teen Titans." The woman's voice rolled out like silk and was just as seductive as Slade's.

"Who are you?" Robin asked the woman.

"I didn't come for an interview, I came for the girl."

"What do you want with her?"

"My motives are mine, and mine alone."

"You're not taking Terra." Beast Boy bulked up.

"That's where you're wrong, because I am and I will. Terra is mine!" Just as she said that the robots re-engaged in battle mode with quick moves, flinging Starfire and Raven to the side and advancing on Terra. Robin went for the woman who brandished a very sleek samurai sword.

"Terra! Terra, are you alright?" Beast Boy asked. "Terra, answer me."

"I have to go, Beast Boy. I have to go." She answered him as she looked into his eyes with tears in hers.

"No. No, you can't go with her, you don't know her." He pleaded.

"Look around, Beast Boy, you're all fighting a losing fight and it's because of me, again."

He looked into the chaos and saw Cyborg and Starfire and Raven all trying to hold off the army of advancing robots, but he also saw that she was right. There was no way they would be able to fend off the woman and her army.

"What do you want with her?" Robin demanded to know as his staff met the woman's sword.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to," she smiled. He couldn't see her face clearly, but he saw that she wore an eye patch over her right eye.

His distraction led to her gaining the advantage and swiftly knocking him to his feet.

"And they called _you _the boy wonder?" She scoffed as she held the blade of her sword to his neck.

"Hey!" Terra shouted from the center of the chaos. "You want me? Come and get me."

The woman looked back down at Robin, "Some other time, perhaps." She then advanced very quickly on Terra.

The ground then started to move and the wind began to swirl. The woman stopped in her tracks as rocks began rising from the ground. Terra was beginning to lose control of her powers as the dirt around her kicked up and formed a dust-like tornado.

"We need to get out of here!" Robin shouted as he regrouped with the other titans. "Let's go!" The others followed as Robin led the way to safety, all except Beast Boy who dodged rock after rock to get to the former titan.

"Beast Boy, you have to go," she smiled. "You can't stop it."

"But I-" she leaned down and kissed him as she then began to drift higher into the tornado.

"Terra…" he held onto her hand.

"You have to let me go, Beast Boy. It's time to go." She said as she drifted into the dirt-filled sky.

A giant boulder came crashing down in front of the woman, catching her by her pants. In a last effort of revenge she flung a sai at the still-mesmerized Beast Boy, but a cloak of dark energy encased him before it could make contact and he vanished.

He opened his eyes to find himself staring at the green ceiling of his bedroom. He looked around, but saw no sign of Terra. He could feel a tear drop running down the side of his face, as he sat up in his bed and went down to the kitchen. Raven was sitting at the table and drinking a hot cup of tea. He sat at the chair parallel to her with a deep sigh.

"Had the dream again?" She asked while peering over her book.

"Yeah,"

Silence.

"Was it Cyborg or Starfire who saved you this time?"

He looked up at her, "Actually, it was you."


End file.
